After a 12-year absence, Toronto-based Scotiabank (the Bank of Nova Scotia) has returned to Lebanon with a single branch dedicated to regional commercial banking and trade finance.

The Beirut branch will provide trade service to local businesses such as facilitating Middle Eastern trade letters of credit, says Hugh Cameron of Scotiabank’s public affairs office.

To announce the opening, the branch has been running simple newspaper ads since May 19th in the capital’s four major dailies: Al Nahar, Al Safir (Arabic), L’Orient le Jour (French), and The Daily Star (English).

Created in-house in Toronto, the bank used a local Beirut ad printing and promotions company to place the ads.

Besides the newspaper ads, a reception event is planned for June, while other possible future marketing initiatives are being considered once response to the newspaper ads is determined.

Before setting up shop again in the former war-torn capital, the Canadian bank had to seek approval from the Central Bank of Lebanon to operate in the country.

‘Beirut is on its way [to] regaining its position as a pre-eminent trade and financial services centre in the Middle East,’ says Cameron.

The bank, which opened April 22, claims to be the first Canadian bank to have a presence in Lebanon.

Originally in the country from 1965-1985, the bank pulled out after one of its manager’s drivers was shot.